See historical sites in 3D

A collaboration between the BBC and Microsoft lets you explore virtual representations of historical sites in Britain.

Using Microsoft's PhotoSynth technology, 3D versions of landmark sites such as Ely Cathedral, the Scottish Parliament and Blackpool's Tower Ballroom can be viewed.

The BBC, as part of its How We Built Britain series, is collecting images from tourists at various locations in the UK and is combining them with historical images to create the synthetic environments.

"Photosynth is an extremely immersive experience where one can find oneself spending hours walking in the footsteps of the photographer and exploring minute details of the 3D environment," said Adam Sheppard, group product manager for Microsoft Live Labs.

To explore the virtual representations of the sites you'll need to be running Windows XP SP2 or Vista, Internet Explorer 6 or later or Firefox 1.5 or later, and have 256MB of RAM. It will only be available for a limited time while the series is running.

http://labs.live.com/photosynth/bbc
www.bbc.co.uk/britain

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